Rudolph and Dasher

have arrived on the scene...and no, not reindeer. The first poddies have the dry season have arrived in quick succession. Rudolph on Sunday evening, the product of a teenage pregnancy that wasn't meant to happen and removed from his mother so they both don't die.
A deep red bull calf that looks suspiciously like an old Droughtmaster bull we call Monty (guess where his bloodlines hail from, cattle people?!) Rudolph has sulked and refused to partake of anything but water and grass until this morning. I tried him again this morning with the bottle and suddenly a switch went off - he remembered! And of course, will now become a menace.

Dasher arrived on Monday night, a bit of a strange calf in that his reproductive organs seem a bit messed up (happens sometimes) but otherwise healthy and with no issues about a lack of appetite at all. Sadly, he is an orphan as his mother decided to try and drink out of a muddy dam instead of the trough. She had to be dragged out of the mud and was in such a bad state, was put down. Life/death, all part of living in the bush and dealing with livestock. As some one said, if you've got live stock, you've got dead stock. Guinea pigs, cows, chooks, the same applies to all of them.

Rudolph and Dasher have a little mate. He's sat with them whether they want him to or not. I'm thinking he's waiting to catch the excess milk, but no, he sits with them ALL DAY.  When he was a wee puppy he would disappear and one would find him just poking about the paddock with the poddies we had then. Strange little dog.

At least I haven't had to chase him out of the house for the past couple of days!

And now I am extra keen for it to rain so I can eject the poddies from my house yard. I was going to mow the lawn but with the calves needing a bit of grass to chew on, well that put paid to that idea. Fingers crossed or else my garden is going to look very munched upon very soon. Not to mention well fertilised. Keep your shoes on kids ;-)

In other news, we have fairy lights operational. And I have to say, seeing them twinkle at night? making me feel all festive!